Captured rebel praises RDF, advises his counterparts to surrender

WESTERN PROVINCE RUBAVU — A former FDLR rebel who was captured recently by Congolese soldiers and repatriated to Rwanda has appealed to other rebels still putting up an offensive against a joint operation by Rwanda and DR Congo forces to abandon fighting and to offer themselves for surrender. Jean-Baptiste Ndahizeye, 38, was captured on January 20 at Kibati between Rucuro and Goma by FARDC soldiers and handed over to Rwanda. In an interview with The New Times, from the RDF Third Division in Gisenyi, Ndahizeye who is currently under arrest blamed FDLR leadership for what he called misleading them into fearing to come back to their country. “Our senior commanders told us that the Rwandan government had put all of us in the same category as genocidaires. Even hundreds of youths who did not participate in the 1994 Genocide have since feared to return because they have been misled that they would face genocide charges,” explained Ndahizeye.He said he was captured by DRC soldiers on January 20 when he had gone to meet some of his FARDC friends. “I had an appointment with Col. James Kimanga, the commander of the 18th Brigade. I always met some of the DRC soldiers at Kibati. When I reached at our usual meeting point, some of the DRC soldiers told me Col. Kimanga had moved a few meters towards CNDP territory since CNDP troops had retreated,” he narrated. He added, “We together moved towards where the colonel was. However, I was later surrounded by another group of DRC soldiers who captured and handed me over to Rwanda the following day.” Upon his return, he said, he was overwhelmed by the reception he received from the Rwandan soldiers. “They are so disciplined, I though they would tear me into pieces but they haven’t even slapped me once,” he said. “We have spent many years in the bush its high time we all came back home because I don’t think the remaining FDLR soldiers have the capacity to challenge the on-going Rwanda-DRC military operation,” he said. Congolese army (FARDC) spokesman in the eastern part of the country, Capt. Olivier Hamuli, had earlier on told the New Times that some rebels had so far surrendered. Ndahizeye, was born in Cyanzarwe Sector in the Rubavu district and joined FDLR in 1997. The on-going Rwanda-DRC military operation to forcefully disarm the FDLR started about a week ago after several high-level bilateral meetings last year. The FDLR have for the last 15 years been operating in the DRC from where they committed atrocities against Congolese civilians and also continued to hatch their plans of destabilising Rwanda. The operation was endorsed December 5, last year, after a two-day meeting between both countries’ Foreign Affairs Ministers in Goma and later followed by an almost similar meeting by their Defence counterparts in Gisenyi to actualise the joint operation program. Ends